Strainer for cane mills



June 17, 1930. M. LOPEZ STRAINER FOR CANE MILLS Fied Nov. 4, 19254 ."5 sheets-sheet 1 June 17, 1930. M. LOPEZ STRAINER FOR CANE MILLS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 4. 1925 .3 Sheets-Sheet 3 M. LOPEZ TRAINER FOR CANE MILLS Filed NOV. 4. l925 IIIIIIIIIIHHHUZ-PHHIIHHHHH vvvano fulmine/11 June 17, 1930.

Patented June 17, 1930 UNITED STATES invriiN'r OFFICE;

MIGUEL LOPEZ, OF SANTA CLARA, CUBA; ESTELA :PEREZ Y EREZ, EXECUTRIX OF SAID MIGUEL LOPEZ, DECEASED, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO MAURICIO QUITERIO LOPEZ Y PEREZ, AND TWO-THIRDS TO ESTELA PEREZ Y PEREZ, BOTH OF HABANA,

CUBA

Application filed November This invention relates to cane mills, and more particularlyY to an improved juice strainer and trash elevator for suoli mills.

In the operation of such devices, as the mass of cane passes through the various sets of rollers or mills, a certain amount of juice is expressed therefrom by each mill, this juice dripping from the rollers upon a pan from which it Hows into a central trough. A certain amount oftrash or pulp will also drop upon the pan and be carried into this trough with the juice. The juice and trash thereupon flow through certain chutes provided therefor upon suitable strainer plates, Where the juice is strained and caught in suitable containers after passing through the strainer plates. Conveyors are mounted above the strainer, upon the flights of which are suitable slats designed tosweep the Vstrainer plates and carry the trash thereover and up an inclined platform to elevate it and deliver it to a suitable conveyor whereby it is returned to the mills so as to be again passed therethrough, and any remaining juice will thus be expressed from this trash.

In the past, when the strainer has become worn, or for any reason it has become`necessary to repair or clean the same, it has .been necessary to stop the machine and the trash conveyor and elevator while such work .is being performed. This necessarily results in a considerable loss, both in the lack of use of the cane mill itself, and inthe time of the operatives lost while the mill is idle.

One object of my invention is to overcome the disadvantages referred to and to provide a juice strainer of a sectional type whereby any section may be removed and another section substituted therefor.

A further object of my invention is to provide a sectional juice strainer whereby a defective section may be removed-and another substituted therefor without stopping the operation of the mill or the trash conveyor, so that no loss of time will result. The defective sections may then be cleaned or repaired or cast aside if unfit for further use,and-as a new section or sections will have been substituted therefor the opeiation of the cane mill will not have been halted.

4, 1925. Serial N'o. 66,753.

A further object-of my invention is the provision of a juice strainer and trash elevator with one end of the latter normally lying close to the surface of the strainer, and means for raising this end of the trash elevator to clear the strainer to permit one or more sections of it to be removed from the machine and Vanother or others substituted therefor without halting theloperation of the mill.

To these and other ends of the invention consists in the novel features and combination of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

- In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. lis a top plan view partly in diagram, of a cane mill embodying my improvements, certain parts having been omitted for the sake of clearness;

Fig. 2 is aside elevational view of the mill shown in Fig. 1; 1

Fig. 8 is a sectional View on line 3 3 of Fig. l, showing the juice strainer and trash conveyor;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged top plan view of a portion of the strainer;

Fig. 5 is a sectional View on line 55 of Fig. 4; f Fig. 6 is an enlarged side view of the lower end of the trash elevator, and the adjacent end of the strainer, partly in section on line 6-6 of Fig. 8;

Fig. 7 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 6,show ing the platform of the trash elevator in raised position to release the strainer, and

Fig. 8 is a bottom plan view of the means for raising the trash elevator platform.'

The preferred, embodimentV of my invention which I have selected to illustrate and describe, as shownin Figs. l and 2, comprises acaiie millv 10, provided with pre-crushing rolls l1,- one or more pairs of which may be provided, s-uch rolls being followed by a number of three roll mills l2, 13, 14 and 15. lVhile I Vhave shown four of such mills in the drawing, it will be understood that the number may, of course, be varied to the particular requirements of the installation and as well the number of pairs of pre-crushing rolls may also be varied. Suitable intermediate carriers 1 6, 1.6a and 17 are provided to convey the mass of cane from one mill to the next, which carriers may be of any preferred type, the particular structure of which being of no concern in connection with the present invention.

As the crushed cane or bagasse passes through the various successive mills, a quantity of juice will be expressed therefrom by each of the mills in turn, in accordance with the usual practice. This juice falls upon the inclined platforms 18 and 19, from which it flows into the trough 20. At the same time, a part of the crushed cane or a cert-ain amount` of trash may drop from the rolls on to the pans 18 and 19, and be carried into the trough 2O with the juice.

This trash and juice then passes downwardly through inclined chutes 21 and 21, the delivery ends 22 and 23 of which are disposed above a juice strainer designated in its entirety by the numeral 24, in Fig. 2. The juice is then strained by being passed through the strainer, where it is collected and carried away by suitable pipes 25 provided for this purpose.

-As shown in section in Fig. 3, the strainer structure comprises a trough 26 channel shaped in section to catch and retain the juice, the troughs being provided with suitable partitions 27 so that the juice from each of the -mills may be separately caught and preserved if desired. At the upper ends of this trough, suitable brackets 28 and 29 are provided, to which are secured standards 8O and 31 to support the trash conveyor and elevator, as will be hereinafter described. Adjacent the brackets 28 and 29 are provided suitable angle elements 32 and 38, the upper surfaces of which extend toward the interior of the trough and provide a rest or base for the strainer.

The strainer is constructed in sections, each section being substantially identical and being provided with means by which it may be connected to the adjacent section, so that a substantially unitary device is formed, as shown in Fig. Each section of the strainer consists of a supporting grid 35 made up of longitudinal web members 36, T-sliaped in form, and transverse web members 87 connected tothe longitudinal members 36 and with them forming a rigid frame or support for the strainer itself. At one end of each of the supporting sections is provided an opening 38 and at the opposite end of the section is provided a lug or tongue 39 designed to enter the opening 38 and to be disposed within a yoke 38 formed at the end of the central longitudinal web member 3G, so that a bolt 40 may be passed through registering openings in the tongue 39 and the yoke. These bolts as shown are provided with pivoted or hinged ends 41, which may be turned downwardly out of alignment with the body of the bolt to serve a convenient means for holding the bolt in place. It will be apparent that each of these supporting sections is identical in construction and that the tongue upon the forward end of each is adapted to enter the yoke in the adjacent end of the next section and be secured thereto so that the complete strainer may be a substantially unitary structure and may be made up of as many sections as desired.

The strainer screen t3 is secured upon the upper surface of each of the supporting sections heretofore described, and side cleats consisting of thin strips le may be screwed to the support to secure it in place. As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the end of one of the screen sect-ions may overlap the adjacent end of the next section so that there will be no gap between the various sections of the screen.

The trash conveyor and elevator is arl ranged to sweep over the strainer and remove the trash and pulp therefrom and deliver it to the mill. This conveyor consists of the chains 47 and Li8 to which are connected slats 19, the upper flight of which is designed to be supported by brackets 50 and 51, secured to the standards 30 and 3l. T he lower flight is, as stated, designed to sweep the screen and may rest directly thereon, the ends of the slats being notched as at 49 to clear the side strainer cleats 44. The chains 17 and 48 are trained about suitable sprockets 52 and at its opposite ends, and if desirable, intermediate idler sprockets or pulleys may be provided.

Toward the forward end of the mill, the lower flight of the trash elevator passes up an inclined jjilatforn'i 54 so as to carry the trash up this platform and deliver it to the conveyor 55, which carries it to the mill so that it may be again passed through the latter. As shown in Fig. 1, the trash elevator is designed to deliver this trash between the first and second S-roll mills, although changes may be made in this respect7 if desired. This trash elevator is secured in place by suitable standards 56 and 57, the latter being shown particularly in Figs. 6 and 7, but the lower end thereof will preferably be left free below the standard 57 so that it may be raised as hereinafter described, to clear the strainer when it is desired to remove the latter.

A. convenient means is provided by which the lower end of the strainer may be so raised, consisting of links 59 and 60, pivoted to blocks ('31 and (32 secured to the lower side of the platform 54, the other end of these links being pivotally carried by a cross-arm G3 secured at its ends to levers (S4 and 65, pivoted at 66 and G7 to brackets G8 and 69, secured to the standards 57. The levers (54C and 65 are connected at their ear ends by an operating bar T0, suitably weighted at 71 so to normally assume its lower position, shown in Fig. 6, wherein the lower end of the platform 54'k rests uponthe strainer, as it will normally do during the operation of the machine. Y v

-When it is desired tofr remove one or more of the strainer sections, the bar 7 O is raised to the position shown in Fig?. As will be apparent, this movement will result in the links V59 andA 60 being,y thrown forwardly, which will cause the lower end vof the platform 'p54 tobe sprung upwardly about its connection with the standards 57,'j as shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings The strainer will, therefore, be relieved from contact with the endy of the platform and will be free for withdrawal. v A cable 75, as shown in Fig. 2, may be connected to the end section of the strainer and this cable turned about a winch 76, mounted in a suitable position upon the frame of the mill so that the strainer may be drawn from beneath t-he trash conveyor. When it is desired `for any reason to replace certain or all of the strainer sections, the platform 54 of the trash elevator is raised, as has already been explained, vand a new section is 'connected to the strainer at this end by means of the male and female` connections y39 vand 38a. The winch is then operated to draw the strainer to the right as shown in Fig. 2. yAs the various sections of the strainer are drawnl to the right from beneath the trash conveyor, they are disconnected and the cablei attached to the next section and new sections are added to the opposite end until the entire strainer has been renewed, or until that section which is defective has been removed from the machine. This may all be done without stopping either the cane mill or :the trash conveyor, sothat no interruption to the work of the mill results and as a consequence a substantial economy in operation is effected.

` While'I have shown rand described apreferred embodiment' of my invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the vscope of the Vappendedclaims.`

What I claim is: j

l. In a cane lnill, a normally stationary strainer, means for delivering uiceexpressed and being made up of a plurality of separate sections detachably secured together, all of said sections lying substantially in the same horizontal plane, and means for supporting said strainer in said mill, said supporting means permitting longitudinal movement of the strainer therein, whereby additional sections may be attached to the strainer and moved to operative positionupon movement of the strainer on` the supporting means.'

In a cane mill, anormally stationary strainer, said strainerbeing composed of a plurality of sections, each section comprising a supporting member and a screen secured thereon,1neans for detachably securing said sections directly together, and supporting means for said strainer, Ysaid supporting means permitting free movement of said strainer in the direction of its length, whereby an additional strainer section may be attached to one end of the strainer and drawn into the mill as a defective section on the op* Vposite end is Withdrawn from the mill.

4. A strainer for cane mills composed of a plurality of sections, each section comprising a supporting member and a screen secured thereon, and means for detachably securing the end of one section with the adjacent end of the other section, the end of one section beingjadapted to overlap the adjacent section, the upper surfaces of said strainers all lying in substantially the same plane.

5. In a cane mill, a strainer, said strainer being composed of a plurality of separate sections, each section comprising a supporting member and a screen secured thereon, the said supporting member having male and female connecting means at the opposite ends thereof, whereby each section may be secured to the adjacent section, mounting means for said strainer, said mounting means permitting free movement of sai-d strainer as a unit through said mill, and means for moving said unit.

6. In a cane mill, aV normally stationary sectional strainer, each section thereof being substantially identical in structure and having male and female connecting members at the opposite ends thereof, whereby said sections may be used interchangeably, mounting means in said mill for said strainer, and means for moving said strainer along said mounts` ing means. Y y

7. In a cane mill, a conveyor, a trough below said conveyor and connected thereto, a strainer in said mill below said conveyor and above said trough, said strainer being supported independently of the vconveyor be tween the trough and the conveyor, said strainer comprising a plurality of detachable sections, and means for removing one of said sections and substituting another therefor without interruption tothe mill and without disturbing said connection between said conveyor and trough. Y

8. In a cane mill, a juice strainer, said strainer being movably mounted in said mill so that it may be Withdrawn from its normal position, and means for connecting a second strainer to the end of the first strainer prior to the withdrawal of the latter'.

9. A juice strainer for cane mills or the like, made up of a plurality of separate sections detach-ably secured together, means for removing said strainer from its normal position in the mill to withdraw certain of the strainer sections, and means for attaching additional sections to the strainer at one end thereof to replace those removed at the opposite end.

10. In a cane mill or the like, a stationary juice strainer, said strainer comprising a plurality of separate sections and connecting means at opposite ends of each of said sections by which it may be detachably connected to the sections at either end thereof and a support for said strainer, said support sustaining said strainer from below for sliding movement of the strainer in a longitudinal direction.

11. In a cane mill or the like, a juice strainer, a trash elevator operable over said strainer, means for withdrawing said strainer from below the trash elevator during the operation of the latter, and means for connecting additional strainer sections to the strainer during the withdrawal thereof.

l2. In a cane mill or the like, a strainer, a trash elevator operable over said strainer, said strainer consisting of a plurality of separate sections, means for removing said strainer a section at a time from below said trash elevator, and means for connecting additional sections at the end of said strainer to replace those removed, said removal and replacement taking place without interrupting the operation of the mill and conveyor.

13. In a cane mill or the like, a strainer, an inclined platform, the lower end of which rests adjacent the surface of the strainer, a trash conveyor and elevator operating over the strainer and inclined platform, means for raising the lower end of the platform to Clear the strainer, and means for withdrawing the strainer from beneath the conveyor.

lll. In a cane mill or the like, a strainer, an inclined platform, the lower end of which rests adjacent the surface of the strainer, a trash conveyor and elevator operating over the strainer and inclined platform, means for raising the lower end of the platform to clear the strainer, and means for withdrawing the strainer from beneath the conveyor Without interrupting the operation of the conveyor.

15. In a cane mill or the like, a strainer, an inclined platform, the lower end of which rests adjacent the surface of the strainer, a trash conveyor and elevator operating` over the strainer and inclined platform, means for raising the lower end of the platform to clear the strainer, and means for withdrawing the strainer from beneath the conveyor without interrupting the operation of the conveyor, said strainer comprising a plurality of sections and means for adding additional sections to the end thereof as the strainer is Withdrawn.

16. In a cane mill or the like, a strainer, an inclined platform, the lower end of which rests adjacent the surface of the strainer, a trash conveyor and elevator operating over the strainer and inclined platform, means for raising the lower end of the platform to clear the'strainer, said strainer comprising a plurality of separate sections, means for adding additional sections to one end of the strainer, and means for withdrawing the opposite end of the strainer from below the conveyor and detaching the section at that end.

17. In a cane mill, a juice strainer and a trash elevator platform, the lower end of which rests upon the strainer, means for raising said platform to clear a strainer' so that the latter may be removed, said means comprising a lever having a fixed pivot, and a link pivoted to the platform and actuated by movement of said lever to raise the end thereof. I

18. In a cane mill, a juice strainer and a trash elevator platform, the lower end of which rests upon the strainer, said platform being secured in position except adjacent its lower end where it is left free, and means for moving the lower end of said platform to clear tIie strainer so that the latter may be removed, comprising a link secured at the rear side of the platform, a lever pivoted at a fixed point on the frame of the machine and a pivotal connection between said link and lever whereby the raising of said lever moves the link forwardly and actuates the lower end of the platform in a forward and upward direction.

19. A stationary juice strainer for cane mills or the like, said strainer being made up of a number of sections connected together in end to end formation and in close juxtaposition, means for mounting said strainer adjacent the mill, said mounting means supporting said strainer from below for sliding movement in the direction of its length.

20. In a cane mill, a trough, a conveyor above said trough, strainer supporting means in said conveyor, a strainer slidably mounted on said supporting means, said strainer being made up out of a number of sections rigidly but detachably connected together in end to end formation, all of said sections lying substantially in the same horizontal plane, means for att-aching a new strainer section to said strainer outside of said conveyor, means for supporting said section while being attached thereto, and means for engaging the opposite end of said strainer to draw it through said conveyor, whereby said new section may be introduced into the conveyor While an old section is being Withdrawn therefrom.

2l. In a cane mill, a conveyor structure provided With juice confining Walls and a plu- 5 rality of sweeps moving Within said Walls, a juice pan beneath the conveyor, means for rigidly connecting the juice pan to the conveyor structure, and a strainer below the sweeps and above the juice pan, said strainer comprising a plurality of sections arranged in end to end relation, and means providing for the removal of one section and the introduction of another While the conveyor structure and pan remain rigidly connected together.

22. In a cane mill, a conveyor structure provided With juice confining Walls and a plurality of sweeps arranged to move Within said Walls, a juice pan beneath the conveyor,

a strainer between said sweeps and juice pan,

said strainer comprising a plurality of sections in end to end relation, interconnecting means for positioning the juice pan With respect to the conveyor structure, and means providing for the Withdrawal of one section and insertion of another While the juice pan and conveyor structure remain intercon nected.

23. In a cane mill, a conveyor structure provided With juice confining Walls and a plurality of sweeps, a juice pan, means for positioning the juice pan under the conveyor structure in operative position to receive juice` therefrom, and a strainer below the svveeps and above the juice pan, said strainer comprising a plurality of sections arranged in end to end relation, and means providing for the removal of one section and the introduction of another While the juice pan remains in 40 operative position With respect to the conveyor structure.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of October, 1925.

MIGUEL LOPEZ. 

